


Cantera: A Foundation Story-Part 7

by Zurrunba



Series: Cantera [7]
Category: Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Genre: Alternate Universe - SCP Foundation, Cantera, Fillian Empire, Galactic Empire, Gen, King Hiero - Freeform, M/M, Science Fiction, galaxy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24260620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zurrunba/pseuds/Zurrunba
Summary: The Galactic Empire has fallen, with kings, tyrants, and other rulers scrambling to seize power in systems across the galaxy. One such ruler is the Tyrant of Fillia, who thirty years before had crushed a rebellion from the planet Cantera, leaving desolation in its wake. Now the people of Cantera just wish to get on with their lives, but then from somewhere the tyrant gets wind that perhaps things weren't as calm and docile on that planet as the King of Cantera portrayed.Eileen Iar, the spy used by factions on the Fillian home world, is found dead in the cell King Hiero had placed her in, with every sign that someone had snuck in under the nose of the royal guard. With that being investigated the king and queen had arranged the downfall of the government of the neighboring planet Doran that they plan to use to help them fight against their enemies in the empire. Despite everything it looked as though things were starting to move in a direction they wanted, until word of something came that was sure to bring a lot more trouble. While embarking on a show of force that was to cross his empire the tyrant's fleet was attacked, killing Tyrant Yth; and four of those ships had been Canteran ships, stolen by Eileen's daughter.
Series: Cantera [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605262
Kudos: 1





	Cantera: A Foundation Story-Part 7

“Who killed Eileen Iar?” King Hiero demanded, as he looked at the three members of his council across the table. Next to him sat the recently re-crowned Queen Moira, who was the heir to the richest merchant family of Cantera. The members of the council were skeptical that she’d remain the queen for long, as she’d already pulled a disappearing act two years before to get away from the king, but one mustn’t take things for granted. At present the queen remained silent but observant. The king certainly liked it that way.

“We’re still investigating,” said Grij, the king’s counselor for defense and recently advisor on interstellar relations. The one who’d done interstellar relation till recently had been Gale Iar, the husband of the woman who’d just been murdered. It was getting rather tiresome having people under his supervision getting murdered. 

“Someone had to have access to the room and been on the accepted list,” said Oris. The king’s counselor in charge of manufacturing. “Judging by the body, we determined she’d been dead for two hours before Counselor Grij came onto the scene. My people are looking into whose credentials were being used during that time and if it were possible that the sensors had been negated for a short time for someone to get in and out.”

“Negated, is that really possible?” the king asked.

“I don’t think so,” said Oris, counselor for manufacturing and maintenance, “but I’m checking on any possibilities that might be doable that we haven’t considered.”

He needed to decide what his next course of action was, and these men all not knowing what was going on didn’t help. They had captured the one who’d killed Gale, and he’d given them some information, but his knowledge was limited and he appeared to be of a different faction than the other spies and saboteurs they’d captured. When Eileen had said that she hadn’t intended for her husband to get killed he admitted that he believed her, but she’d put so many people and places at risk with her actions that she might as well have been a spy herself.

There were too many unknowns. Who could he reach out to in order to find answers? He was about to go on another tirade when Moira’s hand came out to touch his arm. 

“Let’s leave them to do their work, Your Grace,” she said. Next she turned to the three, then focused on Grij. “Do we know what kind of damage Tonya did before leaving Cantera, or how many of our ships were taken?”

Grij sifted through the notes he had on his computer pad. There were a few pads on the table, probably to make sure he didn’t forget anything with each one geared toward different kinds of information. They patiently waited while he found what he was looking for, even though it was about five minutes before he decided to speak.

“The second question I can answer the easiest. Altogether she and her people took eight ships, four of them being our newly built Prime Class, they were all docked at a port near her country residence. We were able to determine that she had about 150 people ready to follow her orders in removing them. After they vanished we’re not sure where they went.”

“Give me the coordinates and everything you can about those ships,” Moira said. “I might have some people who can help us. And the other question?”

This time he took up a different pad. It didn’t take him as long to get this information. The counselor was clearly not happy with the results of the search.

“When we are talking about damage someone does, I’m afraid that there are a lot of variables that can’t easily be measured. It looks like she took a lot of credits that got transferred from her personal accounts and from the treasury. The latter it seems was only about ten thousand. A lot less than she could have.”

“But that could more easily be traced,” said Moira. “She was planning a lot of this for some time. What else?”

“It doesn’t look like she was involved with any sabotage we’ve encountered with grain, manufacturing, or anything else. Her biggest activity had been influence-peddling and passing on secrets in information. There’s a good chance that some assassination attempts had been arranged through her.”

“Do you know what kind of information she might be sending out and to who?”

Here Grij set his pad down and looked at the two with concern. It took a moment for the king to realize that what he was about to say wasn’t written down on anything. He wanted to make sure it only went mouth to mouth. 

“From what we’ve spoken of before, you aren’t going to be surprised to find that a lot of information went to Yllul.” Both the king and queen nodded before he moved on. “Either her or her husband Lorn (Prince Lorn was King Hiero’s nephew) sent several messages through deep channels to the planet Ulln in the Yllul realm. We haven’t been able to piece together all the messages, and I don’t believe we can unless one of her staff remaining here overheard something, but due to the timing I think the attack on the tyrant is to coincide with an invasion of the empire by Yllul.”

The king almost jumped to his feet. Moira’s hand on his shoulder reminded him that showing discipline was essential if he wanted to keep the respect of those around him. The prospects here were terrifying. 

“Is the planet Fillia, or at least the border planets of the empire, about to be attacked?”

If that was the case, he knew that he’d have to do something he’d really rather not. Fight to defend the empire with his navy.

“I don’t think they’ll attack yet, though their ships seem to be moving into position around some of the closer systems. The tyrant’s border guards are still where they’ve been for over a decade, and the majority of his navy is within a jump’s distance from the border. They would likely wait for the internal turmoil that Tonya has assured them will happen,”

Then when everyone’s back was turned Tonya herself would make some kind of move, likely against him or Moira, or siding with one of the factions to strengthen her hand. No matter which faction was foolish enough to accept her offer Yllul would come in and finish them off, making Tonya the dominant factor at least around Cantera. Yllul wouldn’t allow anyone else to rule from the planet Fillia. There had to be something that they could do from their planet that could cut down the factions and possibly create someone, or some people, that they could deal with. Yth wouldn’t have negotiated, but what of his chosen successor? Hiero didn’t remember the man’s name, but he knew there was one.

Excusing the three advisors to continue their duties the king and queen remained in the room to think. Neither looked at the other for a minute or so before Hiero said, “We need an alliance with one of the factions.”

“Yes, we do,” Moira replied, clearly not liking the idea. “Granted we could combine what we have to completely break Fillia’s hold on us while that planet goes down, we’d then have an even stronger enemy on our border. How long would it be before Yllul decided to finish off the other half of what it considers the Fillian Empire.”

“So long as Tonya is stopped in her tracks.”

Reaching her hand out again she grasped his and held it. That was kind of strange, as she’d rarely shown any outward shows of affection before.

“As I told Grij, I might have some contacts I can use there that he knows nothing about. Finding her won’t take long. I’m just worried about how entrenched she might be in her new hideaway that it would require a lot of pain to get her out of there.”

The king agreed. There were several systems he could think of where if she were to make the right promises she might build a fortress around herself.

“And with Tonya pregnant, I think that it’s time we make arrangements of our own to counter it.”

That was a round about way of saying she needed to get pregnant.”

“Are you sure you want to try that now?” he asked. “You weren’t too excited about the idea two years ago,”

Turning to him she smiled and slide her chair in till it touched his. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I’m ready now. And with you I’ve never had a problem going through the motions.”

Standing up, they left the room with his arm around her waist. Well, nobody was likely to see them before they made it to their quarters. Anyone who did would just shrug it off. Formality in this part of the palace was always a bit lax.  
_______________________________

Everything in the palace was chaotic. The unthinkable had just happened. The tyrant had been killed and by an armada mysteriously coming out of hyper jump just as he was planning his show of force throughout the Fillian Empire. It had been a great plan where he’d leave his home world and pick up an additional ship at each of the other planets that he visited. That way when he came to the area around Cantera there would be thirty ships. Someone with knowledge of the details of this plan and with access to warships had made a calculated move.

The republican faction of conspirators had been making plans to oust the tyrant, but weren’t ready to move yet. None of them would’ve acted without consulting the others to make sure they were ready. Therefore, they assumed that it had been another faction responsible. The one who wished to replace the tyrant with one of their own. 

Meeting in the same room in the palace as before, the conspirators who wished to restore the republic were in a frantic mood. Things were moving faster than they’d expected, or even desired; not yet. 

“Do we know whose ships those were?” the first man asked.

“Not for certain,” replied the second. “It’s too soon to know, but that doesn’t matter. What do we do now? If the rebel tyrant faction is behind this then they’re ready to act. We have to try and head them off.”

“Don’t forget the tyrant himself had someone in mind to succeed him if he had no children.”

“Not many tyrants ever pass their power onto their children, but who was this successor? How can he be a factor?”

“His name if Firon. What he’s best known for among the military is that he’s the son of one of the generals who suppressed the Canteran revolt thirty years ago.”

“Why was he chosen?”

“Who can say? Regardless, we need to act. The question is how?”

The second sat back in his chair, thinking. “I have one idea. I’ll run it by you and then we can pass it onto our colleagues.”  
_____________________________

“Who authorized that attack?” demanded the general. He paced back and forth with his fists swinging up and down.

“I can’t find any kind of authorization given out anywhere,” the administrator replied. “Do you know which ships those were that attacked the tyrant?”

The scribe responded, “I was able to identify one in the records that had been pulled from the fleet to do reconnaissance work across our border with Yllul. It disappeared about a week ago. Nobody knew where it could’ve gone.”

“So someone inside our navy was likely responsible?” the general asked. 

“It certainly looks that way,” was the reply. “The others are still being looked into. It seems that several ships had their markings and designations altered to avoid identification. I can say that several of them were of a model I’ve never seen before. They were a lot newer than the others. I will go over all the footage that I can to see if we can identify it, but the images we have are far enough away and not so good quality that a lot of things are really blurry.”

They sat silently for a time, thinking everything through. It would seem that there were more elements in the navy friendly to anti-tyrant factions that were bold enough to make its move at this time. Were they not afraid of what could happen to the empire if there wasn’t a strong hand at the helm at least until Yllul was dealt with? There’s always the possibility that this faction was working with Yllul, which was really a scary thought. Therefore, there was no more time for idleness. Whoever killed the tyrant must be ready to act to seize power. The three here would have to make their move first.

“Alright, we can’t take any chances,” said the general. “We have to make our move in two days. There will have to be a lot of rearranging and modifying our plans, but I think I can make it happen.”

“What about just starting things tonight?” the administrator asked.

“That won’t work. Firon was close enough to the administration that he can likely get most people to back him if there’s an immediate threat after the tyrant’s death. Give people a couple days to think about it and we’ll start to see some cracks that we can utilize.”

Agreeing to this, the three departed their separate ways.  
___________________________________

As expected, the government of the planet Doran collapsed, forcing the council to choose a temporary replacement until a final assessment could be made. The Canterans had been called in to help restore order, which had happened in the past, they being the strongest element in this part of the Fillian Empire. Hiero made sure that he had his best hand-picked people immediately available to start the process of integration (though the people of the planet would never know that, just as they hadn’t known about the tyrant’s web that had been making its way in).

After waking up that morning Moira and Hiero quickly got cleaned up and presentable so anyone who’d be showing up that morning wouldn’t see a single thing out of place. The two of them were looking over the news reports and the orders they’d given to their contacts on the planet. It was all going just as they’d planned. It was nice to have at least one item working in their favor. Sadly, they wouldn’t be able to exploit this addition to their resources probably for another month or so, but it was at least under way. 

As they expected, Grij was the first one to come and visit them in their office. He was then followed by both Admiral Shore and Captain Tyr of orbital defense. They’d come to the palace upon royal request. To their credit none of them displayed a single ounce of anxiety. The queen asked them to take their seats.

“Counselor, what have you found out about Eileen’s death?” asked the king.

Pulling out a tablet he quickly brought up several files. “From what we’ve found since our first impression, it looks like Eileen did indeed kill herself.”

Raising an eyebrow Hiero asked, “Are you sure? You sounded convinced otherwise just two days ago.”

“We thought that there was some evidence of some violent encounter in the room, but realize now that she had been throwing things around herself and then setting things back in their place. There were no finger prints other than hers on the handle, and no evidence of the kinds of smudge residue we’d expect to see when using gloves or trying to wipe prints off. She clearly held it with the blade point toward her chest and had no help. 

“One quick note I might add, though, is that there was one person who’d visited her ten minutes or so before she died. The identification on that card strangely enough was Captain Grosh. The problem is he wasn’t on duty at the time nor did he have any reason to be there. The guards who were on duty confirm that they never saw the captain that night.”

“And they don’t remember someone going in the room on that shift?”

“Only the person who’s supposed to bring her food and drink. That person is being questioned, but her credentials were used to get in at the time the food was brought in. She is being questioned, nonetheless. She likely saw the person, unless she scanned in twice, once as herself and then again as the captain.”

“And the bookkeeper?” the queen asked.

“He’s in custody. I can have him available whenever you want him.”

There was nothing more to be gleaned from that until they could interview the bookkeeper. It was time to get onto something else.

“General, captain,” Moira began, “have you discovered anything about the ships that attacked the tyrant’s escort?”

The two looked at each other. Then the captain stepped forward. “Your Grace, we’ve confirmed that four of them were ours.”

Though they’d expected something like this, it hit them hard. At least all ten of them weren’t Cantera vessels, he supposed, but would the Fillian leaders really care whether there was one Canteran vessel before deciding to act? What they did would all depend on how the succession worked. This tyrant had been ruler of this realm for over forty years. Some kind of uniformity might exist to pull different parties together long enough to do damage to them regardless of what Yllul might do. It might be suicidal, but he could image some of them of considering it.

Then he was reminded of the explosion on the platform near the tyrant’s palace where his sources said information about Cantera had been about to be delivered to their leader. If that faction was prone to strike at Hiero with any provocation, that would’ve been the time. Someone was going to try to seize power from whoever was the chosen successor.

“Do you know which ships specifically they were?” she continued. “Their names or model class.”

“We know the class of the ones that were stolen from the fleet. Some of those were our most advanced models just created.”

“I see,” she said. She continued to stare in their direction. Glancing down at her fingernails that had been recently colored a kind of magenta. She went through some kind of ritual of inspecting the color to make sure there were no blemishes. All three visitors looked at each other in confusion. 

“You may go now,” she said to the three. “We’ll be calling you again shortly.”

The three left, with just the king and queen remaining. When the door shut behind them Moira took a deep breath. She stood up and stretched out her dress to allow some air in.

Before he could ask her a question she said, “I have an idea about what to do concerning the Fillian factions; at least two of them.”

“May I ask what this plan is?”

“I don’t have it completely organized in my head, but I’ll need two of your scout ships and crew that you know you can trust,”

“The people I know I can trust seem to be getting smaller and smaller in number, but I think I can find twenty people.”

“Good. We need to send two scout ships to the Rhea Alta system, and then to the planet Gondor.”

That was a strange request being that they wanted to deal with Fillian factions, but after what they’d learned about those Eileen had allowed onto the planet and the near death experience she’d had when leaving Gondor not long before. He wished that he could find more of these contacts that she was always able to find. Likely the difference was people are more likely to chat with a merchant than some royal inquirer, and she just knew how to read people better than he did. 

“As for Tonya, I’ll deal with that directly as soon as we’re done here.”

“Can you try not to keep too much of your complex machinations from me?” the king asked. “They could end up clashing with other plans that I have going on. I know what your idea of multi-tasking is and it can become a maze of spiderwebs real fast.”

Smiling she kissed him and got to her feet. “I’ll let you in on all of it once I’m sure things have been set in motion.”

Thus saying she departed. Now he was alone to run several things through his head. Contacting the people in charge of the various departments he instructed them all to give the queen what she suggested. He hoped he’d not regret making that request. He wasn’t sure why he was having misgivings here. Likely it was because he was used to being the one wielding most of the power throughout Cantera and its satellite system. What would she end up doing?

On a whim he reached out to each of the hangars on the planet and the dock areas in the orbital bases to take stock of all the ships, weapons, and supplies that they’d been amassing with their designs on revolt. If Tonya had taken anything else he wanted to know what it was. He was very glad to discover that nothing else was missing or messed with by anyone that they weren’t already aware of. He kept his fingers crossed that it would remain that way. If he ever became curious enough about his queen’s activities he could check what things she was commandeering for the job. Then again, she could have such a strange idea that he would be stumped to note the pitch fork and sticks of butter that he’d had no clue how it could be used.

Smiling, he closed up the computer and headed for the transport dock so he could visit one of the factories.  
_____________________

Moira stared at the screen before her in the personal office that the king had assigned her. If she dwelt on it too much, she could be agitated about having to almost completely rely on the king for everything, when she was so used to having her own people and resources at her finger tips. But that was the nature of palace life. Once on one of her ships she was in complete control. She knew that eventually the king would allow her total access to everything, provided she didn’t abuse it. How much did she trust the king? So far it looked like she could get whatever she wished.

Throwing that aside, she focused on what her first job would be; finding Tonya Theor. Tonya was a devious person who knew where to find what she needed. One like Moira might admire such a person, if she wasn’t so caught up in her lust for power that she smashed everything and everyone in her path. The queen could appreciate one doing many questionable things when fighting your way to the top, but this woman took things further than any rational person should. Moira at least felt empathy and compassion with those who weren’t out to destroy her and what she cared about. Lorn’s wife had no such restraints. 

In a way, Tonya’s nature was what could end up bringing her down. All Moira had to do was find out some of the connections and discover which ones she may have angered most on the road. First was to locate one of the threads that the woman had strung, and she knew just who to ask to get it going. 

A man’s face appeared on the communication screen. He seemed a little confused with the communication when it came. After all, who in the palace would be reaching out to a glass merchant, unless they knew that he was also a smuggler? In the end he’d decided to answer the call. Seeing who was on the other end he smile.

“Moira, or should I say ‘Your Grace’? What can I do for you?”

“Moira will be fine, Arron. It’ll take me a while to get used to this ‘highness’ ‘grace’ business.”

“Even though this is the second time it’s happened to you?” he asked with a smirk.

“I didn’t care for it much back then, either,” she replied with distaste. “But I’m not calling out of the blue to talk about old days. I have a job for you that will involve a good deal of wheeling and dealing as well as a little subcontracting.”

Arron’s face quickly became more serious as the queen started to outline the plan she had for hunting down Tonya Theor. First she explained what had happened leading up to the collapse of the Doran government, then how the king had arranged to get his people in to take control while at the same time distracting people with Moira’s rising from the dead and the announcement of their marriage to take place soon after. Then she explained what Tonya had done by most likely duping Lorn and pulling strings behind his back. The use of the missing ships to attack the tyrant’s small fleet and killing him she saved for last. There was no point in leaving out any vital information about Tonya when what she was asking him to do didn’t exactly follow legal channels.

When she was done the look on Arron’s face was dour, which gradually altered into some kind of thoughtful amusement. 

“Your ideas always hang on the edge of believability, Your Grace,” he said. “Your idea about how to catch Tonya does sound feasible, but you do understand that this won’t be cheap.”

“Don’t worry about money. I’ve got access to the Canteran treasury this time to work with. So long as things don’t start to look too strange the king won’t cut me off.”

“Are you sure about that, Moira? This plan has a lot of strange things in it that could raise some eyebrows.”

Smiling, she said, “The king has given me discretion to run this operation. He knows that I have a lot of contacts that he can’t reach out to, like you, that could be needed to get jobs done. Tonya has already been working the back channels, so it’s time I do the same.”

Arron looked down at something on his table that she couldn’t see. After a couple minutes he sent to her in a secure communication what the price tag would be. Nodding, she said that would be fine and sent back to him what should be done in phase one. 

“Find who you need as quickly as possible,” she said. “Phase one needs to be done by the end of the week. I don’t think Tonya will do anything else until her Yllul allies come through, but once chaos on Fillia itself explodes we’re going to be embroiled in political shenanigans that might take all our attention.”  
_______________________

An explosion erupted across the central palace region of Fillia’s capital, causing men, women, and children at all levels to scramble for cover. After the sound receded and the shock from the explosion there was a moment of silence. Then weapons fire erupted. 

Just who was shooting at whom was a question most residents couldn’t answer. They recognized many of them as wearing the palace guard uniforms. That would indicate to some that these were the ones people should want to have maintain control. Those who could see the fighting on each side and were observant enough would note that there were some wearing the palace guard uniforms on both sides, granted one side was a mixture of the guard and other uniforms, like those of the imperial army. Confusion dominated the scene with pitched battles moving back and forth across the many levels and regions that the palace had. There was a reason why the palace guard was so large; it had to be able to defend the entire huge complex.

Three apparent factions were emerging; those fighting to maintain the current order rallied around the one known to be the chosen successor of the tyrant, even if he would be put in the position long before the intended time. General Firon had made swift moves to get his people into the central palace administrative sections, master computer rooms, and weapons arsenals. The fleet he ordered to keep vigilant watch to see if those enemy ships should return. At present the new tyrant had fifteen ships in orbit prepared for any other attack from outside the system. At this point he made contact with every vessel in the fleet that he could to ascertain how deep this conspiracy went. He fought long and hard to move those he trusted into the right positions on every ship that he could. That, of course, was easier said than done. One ship here, then one ship there slowly vanished off in places that the new tyrant hadn’t approved of. In all the chaos it took at least twelve hours to make sure that his people controlled the vital areas of the palace, but that was the palace. Outside he couldn’t be sure of much. A few times he was able to contact some of the bases, but of the twenty-five bases only eight immediately got back to him.

As the fighting had gotten rather stabilized around where these two factions had managed to claim territory in the palace, fighting broke out again as the third faction made its move against both of its opponents. This faction managed to dislodge both of the other groups from many vital locations that they held. This group was all dressed in the uniforms of the Fillian navy with one or two exceptions. Their leader called out to the rest of the palace to surrender to the new authority, the People’s Council. There hadn’t been a People’s Council on Fillia in over a hundred years, so most didn’t take it seriously until the computer room was captured. The ability for anyone to communicate off the planet was severely limited to only a few other unofficial places. The tyrants had always wished to have complete control over interplanetary communications on all their planets. This kind of control was only managed successfully in the twelve systems closest to Fillia. They never managed to get that kind of hold in farther away area like where Cantera was.

Those referring to themselves as republicans then sent out messages all across the Fillian Empire explaining what had happened and called on the fleet to take a stand to restore the people’s will. It was a noble idea, but very few people who understood how the galaxy worked could hold onto such things, but the message really did spark interests for many who weren’t happy with the tyrants and their cronies. The fact that these republicans were able to seize control of those communications indicated that maybe there was some strength to the movement that otherwise skeptical people could hold onto. 

Of course, they couldn’t overwhelm everybody, but the greatest damage they’d done had been to that of Firon with the loss of palace resources, but that tyrant still held onto the major arsenals. Given time he felt he could pull together fighters from outside to come to his rescue. Outside of the palace complex the republicans had gained control, as well as ten of the planet’s bases. Not a whole lot as far as was needed to gain control, but they felt they had a springboard to work with as they waited for their allies on Fillia and a couple of the other neighboring planets to assist. It was assumed that no other faction had as many ships ready to move on the home world than what was at the tyrant’s disposal. But then they couldn’t communicate, and who knew what people were on each of those fifteen ships?

By the following day the lines and territory held by the factions stabilized, but then the tyrant lost another section to the first rebel group with a surprise attack. They’d assumed that both were so pressed by the new faction that the first enemy would be completely engaged there. After this each side’s territory was held without a change in the status quo for the next two days. During all this time, unbeknownst to the Fillian factions, several ships of Yllul were spotted on some kind of scouting mission throughout the systems, watching and waiting, just before being chased off by the border watcher ships that refused to budge to any sides in the conflict. No matter who won, the border had to be secure.  
___________________________

King Hiero stared at the man whose hands were cuffed to the table where he sat. The look on the other’s face was both sad and terrified. From all appearances Prince Lorn looked like a confused man who had no clue what had been going on while he was minding his own business. Again he wondered if that was believable. Sadly the single word answer to that was ‘yes.’ The issue wasn’t if it was believable or not, there was still a chance he was involved or at least he knew more than he thought he did. 

“Hiero, I promise I knew nothing about what she was up to. I didn’t even believe it until you showed me what you’d found.”

“Being a dupe can at times be just as dangerous to me as a coconspirator,” the king replied. “If not for Moira’s contacts on Gondor who knows what more damage could’ve been done?” 

Fighting against the urge to yell he turned his back on his nephew to take a deep breath and get a handle on his emotions. Whatever Lorn had known about his wife before she ran off, there needed to be a deep inquiry into the things that he might be able to piece together on reflection. Whether or not he allowed his nephew out of his prison would depend on what their conversation could bring to light, No matter what that might be, Lorn would not be allowed to be part of any succession once his wife was captured.

“Were you aware that Tonya was pregnant?”

Startled, he looked up. “She’s pregnant?” There was a conflicting expression on his face between possibly being happy and fearing for what that could mean to him and any such baby.

“So you understand how that might concern me, even if you have nothing to do with what she’s been planning. But I believe that if you think about it you might remember some things that might not have thought much of at the time. So right now I want you to tell me everything you can think of, then later I’d have you speak with Grij about anything else that comes to mind. Once we’re done here, I’m going to be interviewing every member of your staff who are remaining on the planet.”

The king sat down at the table staring Lorn in the eye. “Now start talking. I’ve got a lot of things going on right now, and I don’t want this rearing its head behind my back.  
__________________________

He’d been taken completely by surprise. It was rather embarrassing since he’d prided himself on being ready for any contingencies. Those preparations hadn’t been good enough for the royal guard who’d set him up with one of those alluring offers one might say couldn’t be refused. Now this was the result. If he survived this, he’d do his best to have eyes in the royal palace. There were always those there who were willing to spread information for the right price.

Sitting in the room he did his best to show his calmest demeanor. Keeping eyes alert for anything that might help him. All his thoughts of schemes and ways to use the palace staff evaporated when he saw Moira walk into the room and close the door. His mouth went dry. Few people went head to head with Moira Tilliar and came out unscathed. Now that she was queen, he was sure that the odds were even worse. The strange tight fitting blue flowery dress might disarm someone into thinking they could at least fight their way past her, but he knew that somewhere hidden in that dress was a blaster or some other weapon that could be out at a moment’s notice.

“Jaro, for some reason I didn’t think it was you who had Eileen’s feet over the fire, but then you were always a risk taker. I can understand the lure, but you should’ve stuck to credits rather than favors. Especially those involving the royal family.”

Dumbstruck, he couldn’t think of anything to say. The king might not know about all the things that he’d dipped his toes into, but anyone in the realms the Telliars worked could find out almost anything about anybody. Both her and her father had taken down quite a few people who’d crossed their paths and posed some threat. Now here Moira was with a royal title working with Hiero on royal business.

“I was just doing some favors for a few people to help Eileen pay off her debt. That woman was so deep she couldn’t get out any other way. I doubt her husband even knew what she was up to.”

“Another dupe to be taken advantage of. Interesting, since her daughter was doing something similar to her husband Prince Lorn. What are the odds that Eileen didn’t know what her daughter was up to?”

His mouth went dry. Indirectly she was tying the treason of Tonya with the debt favors of Eileen, and there could be some connections one might make, but they weren’t of Jaro’s making. But would that make a difference to Moira or the king, as an attempt had been made on the king’s life by someone who’d taken a counselor’s credentials?

“No snide remarks for me, Jaro? No witty sarcasm to cover for your discomfort? Pitty, I kind of liked that about you.” Moira stood up and came closer to the table he was sitting at. “You’re a business man, and you love making deals and currying favors. I have a proposition for you. If you accept, you can walk out of here now. If you refuse, well I think Hiero wouldn’t mind having a few words with you once I’m done with what I think you deserve while you sit in a small sell for the next couple years.”

Of course, he accepted.


End file.
